


The Cleanup

by Kedreeva



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Multi, Panic Attacks, Threegulls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 17:10:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5464418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kedreeva/pseuds/Kedreeva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Duke cleans Audrey's apartment after her kidnapping.<br/>----<br/><i>We’re heading to the Gull</i>, the text reads. It’s from Nathan, and even though there’s nothing else, Duke knows why he sent the text. He knows it has just occurred to Nathan what will be waiting for Audrey when she arrives, unless someone interferes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jadzibelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jadzibelle/gifts).



            He arrives back at the  _Gull_ with a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach and nerves alight with anxiety he can’t shake. The lights are all off and the place is locked up, so he skirts the edge of the building and climbs to Audrey’s apartment. The door is slightly ajar, and he presses lightly against it with just the tips of his fingers.

            He’s not sure what he expected to find inside, but he thinks the expectation was worse. He expected blood and broken glass, smashed items and a trail of evidence, but that’s not what he finds.

            Instead, there is an overturned chair, and a few items scattered in a way that makes it look like there’s a struggle; but Audrey had said she was tased and Nathan had come calling with Duke’s stolen necklace and a tattoo that expressed all of his misplaced rage.

            It is several minutes before Duke can force himself across the border and into the apartment, and he only does so because even though Audrey is at the station, bleeding her trauma onto the pages of reports, she can’t stay there forever. She’ll have to come back here, and Duke can’t let her come back to this.

            So he cleans. He rights the upturned chair, and picks up the items on the floor. He sweeps with a tattered broom he finds near the entrance and tidies the path between the door and the kitchenette. He doesn’t notice the way sound has hollowed out around him, how he cannot hear the ocean over the ringing in his ears. He doesn’t notice the spin of dizziness behind his eyes until he reaches for the griddle of thoroughly burned pancakes and he can’t see anything but the charred tips of bones in a blazing fire.

            He steps away from the counter, breath coming fast and harsh in his chest.

_We could have lost her._

            The thought fills in every silent space inside of him, insidious and sharp.

_She could have died today._

            He hasn’t let himself think it, because she’s okay, because they got her back, because she’s still breathing and smiling, even if both are shaky and forced. They saved her.

_We almost lost her._

            The thought spins in so many circles in his head that he has to sit down, cracks his knees against the hard floor as he sinks. He doesn’t have room in his head or heart to hold the concept of Audrey being  _gone_ ; it was too big, a yawning chasm of pain and loss and  _emptiness_ threatening to swallow him up.

_She almost died._

            The soft buzz of his phone snaps him back to reality. He knows he is still breathing because the air burns in his lungs, and he tells himself he wasn’t crying as he pulls out his phone and feels his eyes stinging. He can’t be doing this. He’s supposed to hold it together.

 _We’re heading to the Gull_ , the text reads. It’s from Nathan, and even though there’s nothing else, Duke knows why he sent the text. He knows it has just occurred to Nathan what will be waiting for Audrey when she arrives, unless someone interferes.

            He stares at the screen, blurry in the wake of his tears, and then looks up to where the griddle is still sitting on the counter, the last thing to be done before the apartment looks normal again. He lets out a breath, gives himself a few seconds to pull himself together, and then taps a short reply.

 _It’s safe here_ , he responds, and then adds,  _I cleaned_.

            He clambers to his feet as soon as the message is sent, knowing there will be no response but also knowing that he needs to make good on that reassurance. So he dumps the pancakes into the trash, and he cleans the griddle, though he leaves it on the counter instead of putting it away someplace random. He doesn’t want her happening across it unexpectedly.

            When he is finished, he does a final check of the place, glances into all the darkened corners, checks behind every door, and assures himself that it is safe. That he has not lied to Nathan, that his assessment will not fail Audrey.

            Then he hears the Bronco in the parking lot, and he pulls the liner from the trash, and slips out the front door, promising himself that he will replace the locks first thing in the morning. He knows that wasn’t the problem, knows that Audrey answered the door, but he knows it will make them both feel safer.

            They catch him at the bottom of the stairs, but none of them say a word. Audrey looks at the bag in his hands and he doesn’t see her flinch but there is recognition in her eyes. She knows what he has been doing. He looks to Nathan, who nods just a little at him before ushering Audrey toward the stairs. Duke turns to watch them go, watches them until they are out of sight, and then heads for the dumpster.

            He knows that Nathan will leave tonight, that Audrey will pry him off and send him home because she doesn’t need babysitting, she needs  _space_ and  _time_. He also knows that Nathan won’t leave, and that he’ll probably sit in the Bronco in the parking lot until he falls asleep, and then leave to get coffee from his favorite shop in the morning.

            And even though the  _Rouge_ is anchored just down the way, even though Duke knows that someone reliable will be watching over Audrey tonight, he also knows he’s not leaving either. He knows that he’ll be polishing glasses and wiping the bar down until he can’t keep his eyes open, and that he’ll probably crash in the back room for the hour or two of sleep his body will force upon him before his morning crew arrives.

            All he can think, as he lets himself into his restaurant, is that hopefully tomorrow will be better.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This bit is for Marie.

            She brandishes her long wooden spoon at Duke the second he sets a toe over the line into their kitchen, and he holds up both hands in surrender. It’s the sixth time he’s tried to trespass while she is cooking, and she’s ready to throttle him for hovering.

            “I can cook, you know,” she tells him, still waving her utensil. “I lived a whole lifetime by myself before you two and somehow survived the experience.”

            “I have no doubts about your skills,” Duke capitulates, still holding the entirety of his 6’2” frame in a way that whispers about submission. “I’m just looking.”

            “I know what you’re  _just doing_ ,” Audrey tells him. “And you’re gonna burn your fingers again trying to sneak bites before it’s finished. If you’re bored of waiting, you can go help Nathan in the shower until I’m finished.”

            She  _almost_ feels sorry to be the cause of the torn look that flashes across Duke’s features. He looks over his shoulder toward her bathroom, to where they can both hear the rush of water filtering into the apartment. Unlike Duke, Nathan had given up on waiting for food, and went to wash up before dinner.

            Duke makes a pained face, but ultimately takes a step backward, out of her space and toward the bathroom, and then hesitates. She knows what he’s doing; by some unspoken rule, the boys have cooperated in making sure that she never actually makes it into the kitchen to cook for them. She isn’t blind, she sees the tension in Nathan’s shoulders when she suggests she cook, and she sees Duke catch on a moment later.

            Neither one of them can get the image of a griddle full of scorched pancakes and an empty, ransacked apartment out of their heads. Nathan, who had come over for their date and found her missing, Duke who had cleaned up the mess before she’d come home after being rescued so she wouldn’t have to see. It haunts both of them, even though it is long in their past.

            “I’ll be okay,” she tells Duke, tone softening. “The door’s locked, and you’ll both be right there. I promise not to get kidnapped while you’re in the shower.”

            It’s clear by Duke’s face that he didn’t think she’d figured out what they were doing, but he has the good sense to look chagrined at being caught. Instead of arguing, he steps back into the kitchen and crowds into her space, pressing a gentle kiss to her temple. “Okay,” is all he says, and then he disappears into the bathroom.

            Audrey turns back to the food simmering on the stove and smiles when she hears Nathan’s shout of surprise a moment later. They’re both going to be hungry when they’re done.


End file.
